BPCL Investment: BPCL to spend Rs 1.4 lakh crore in petrochemicals and gas business

State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) will invest Rs 1.4 lakh crore in petrochemicals, city gas and clean energy over the next five years, as it looks at non-fuel business for growth. BPCL is the second largest oil refining and fuel marketing company in the country. We are re-evaluating our strategies to take advantage of emerging opportunities while mitigating risk, the company's Chairman and Managing Director Arun Kumar Singh said in the firm's latest annual report.

Countries around the world are opting for clean, carbon-free fuels. Oil companies are looking for businesses to protect their core hydrocarbon operations from risk. The gas is being touted as a transition fuel for electric mobility and hydrogen pickup motion. Managing director Arun Kumar Singh said the company plans to diversify and expand into alternative businesses to create additional revenue streams and hedge against any possible future downturn in the liquid fossil-fuel business.

BPCL owns 20,217 out of 83,685 petrol pumps in the country. The company is not only selling petrol and diesel, but is also providing EV charging as well as futuristic fuels like hydrogen. The Managing Director said that keeping in mind the need to reorient ourselves with the changing times, we are committed to transforming our fuel stations into power stations and moving forward, where all types of energy solutions for mobility , such as petrol, diesel, natural gas, EV solutions, flexi fuel and hydrogen will be available.

BPCL holds 14 per cent of India's oil refining capacity of 251.2 million tonnes. It has refineries in Mumbai, Bina in Madhya Pradesh and Kochi in Kerala.